Vice Media has hired former Canadian cable exec David Purdy to help grow the youth media brand's global distribution network.

Purdy, most recently senior vp content and video product management at Rogers Communications, Canada's largest cable and wireless phone player, has been named chief international growth officer, Shane Smith's digital company announced Thursday.

Based in Toronto and New York, Purdy will initially expand Vice's $100 million multiplatform partnership with Rogers in Canada, where the digital company began as a free magazine in 1994. The partnership with Rogers includes Vice producing content for TV, smartphones and desktops, and launching Viceland as a Canadian cable channel in early 2016.

New York-based Vice will also launch Viceland stateside in partnership with A+E Networks and plans an aggressive expansion in European TV and increased multiplatform initiatives internationally via its own or joint-venture networks or programming blocks.

In his new role, Purdy will help Vice — now backed by Disney, A+E Networks, 21st Century Fox and Technology Crossover Ventures — to grow its global distribution network to deliver programming to all screens. "Dave has been a leader at building and launching linear, digital and mobile products at one of the leading media companies in North America," Vice co-president James Schwab said in a statement.

"As Vice continues to expand, doing multiplatform deals all over the globe, Dave will bring his extensive knowledge across cable, broadband and wireless to expand the company’s distribution model across all screens around the world," added Schwab.

While at Rogers, Purdy helped the company in its competition with Netflix Canada by launching the cabler's TV Everywhere app, a homegrown SVOD Shomi and other new content across mobile, digital and linear channel platforms. His hire follows Disney doubling its stake in Vice Media to $400 million, or about 10 percent of the company.